Myrrah
by Azure-Exile
Summary: Shihouin Yoruichi faces a timeless dilemma: choose love at the cost of all else, or leave behind the only thing that ever really mattered. Based off the play "Myrrah" by Ovid. UraYoru.


Myrrah

By: Bloodmist-Exile  
Beta'd by: Matsumama  
Misc: Romance/Drama  
Rating: Teen for Safety  
Pairing: UraYoru  
Disclaimer: Kubo Tite is the Bleach man, man.

* * *

Yoruichi picked a flower from beside the pond, near the edge of the Shihouin grounds, and sat, staring wistfully into the water. "You can shut yourself in a room," she mused aloud, "And bolt the door, but love will come through the window. You can draw the curtains and lock the casements, but love will seep through the walls."

"Never think, never think that you can be safe from love."

Several minutes later, she caught the bright gleam of blond hair reflected off water. "Yoruichi?"

She had forgotten Kisuke usually visited her on Tuesday afternoons. "Kisuke." she replied softly, without even turning in his direction; settling instead on speaking to his reflection in the water.

"So..." Kisuke said, finally breaking the short silence, "Why so sad?"

Yoruchi frowned, as she had hoped to be less obvious, and hugged her legs to her chest, seeming for a second like a little girl. "It's nothing." she said, "Nothing."

"Aw, what do you have to be so sad about?" Kisuke said with a mischievous grin, clearly trying to cheer his friend up but saying all the wrong things, "Guys are at your door every day, promising you the world, but you turn them all away and decide to be sad? I wish I had half as many women after me..." His smile flickered for a moment, then exploded back onto his face so quickly that it was a little startling, "Is there someone special you're hiding?" he asked with a sly look.

"No." she replied, "And I don't care if they're offering the world. I don't want it."

"What're you waiting for?"

"Nothing." Not a thing, but a person.

"None of them have what you want?"

"No. None."

"What sort of husband do you want then?"

She smiled sadly and silently began to pick off the flower's petals, dropping them one by one into the pond. "One like you."

Kisuke blushed and looked away, "That's very flattering," he said finally, "You're too nice to me, Yoruichi."

Yoruichi did not reply to this and simply plucked the final petal from her flower., casting it into the pond. Wordlessly, she watched the petal spin silently on the surface of the water.

* * *

"Yoruichi, why are you crying? My child, why are you crying?"

Jumping at the voice, Yoruichi quickly wiped her red, teary eyes and glared at the old nursemaid that had helped raise her. "Nurse," she said firmly, "Leave me alone."

"What is it, child?" the old nursemaid asked urgently, literally twisting her handkerchief into knots, "I'll help you, whatever it is. The old are not altogether useless!" As if she was a child once more, the kindly nurse peeked inside Yoruichi's ears and peered into her eyes, "Are you in pain?" she asked, "I could seek a healer from the Fourth..."

"Nurse..." was as far as Yoruichi got before the nursemaid interrupted her by placing her hand on the younger girl's forehead.

"Is it job stress?" the nursemaid inquired, "Has another Captain upset you?"

"Nurse-"

"Are one of your friends ill?" the nurse interrupted again. Even the vaguest mention of Kisuke stung like a dagger and Yoruichi felt a soft sigh escape, unbidden, from her lips. The nursemaid nodded knowingly as, she too, had sighed the same several times in her years. "Ah, I know," she said immediately, "It is love. It must be love, and I can help you. Whatever it is, whatever you want, I swear to help you. Only... tell me who; your father will never know."

"Nurse!" Yoruichi yelled, "Leave me alone!"

"Is it Kuchiki Byakuya-sama from the Clan Ku..."

"Go away or drop it!" she yelled, "It's against clan law what you're trying to learn!" On and on it went, but the old nurse simply would not give up. "It seems a blessing to be a common woman after all," Yoruichi said bitterly, after the nurse had named most of the noble families in Soul Society, "They have the best men. Or rather, man."

"What do commoners have to do with..." The look of wide-eyed astonishment slowly crossing her nursemaid's face made it clear that she had said too much, "Oh child," the kindly nurse said softly, "Whisper in my ear and tell me I am wrong..."

Yoruichi leaned closer to her nurse and, with the air of one whom walks gratefully to her own demise, whispered only two words, "Urahara Kisuke."

The nursemaid trembled slightly but drew the young woman into an embrace, "I swore to help you." she said, "And now I shall." Yoruichi glanced up hopefully into the nursemaid's kind black eyes, "Do exactly as I say," the nursemaid said, "For tomorrow, as he does not know me, I will go to Urahara-sama's office in the Twelfth Division and arrange a meeting between you. Learn to disguise your voice so he will not recognize it and do not wear your hair or clothes in the same manner. From what I hear, Urahara-sama has a great weakness for women and he will be likely – as any man would be – to listen to my suggestion-"

"-that a beautiful woman adores you, loves you, and wants to be with you." the nurse finished, smiling warmly into the gray eyes of the Twelfth Division Captain. "Could she?"

"She's attractive?" Kisuke asked hesitantly.

"Oh, yes," the nurse replied, "And young."

"Young? How young?"

"Your age."

Kisuke shrugged his shoulders but still looked interested. After a moment of thought, he replied, "Alright." he said, "Please tell her to come to my Captain's quarters by eight." He grinned, "Guess she's never been inside a Captain's personal quarters, huh?"

"No, never," the nurse assured him, "There is only one condition, however," She reached in her pocket and drew the spotted-white handkerchief, "She's very shy and afraid for you to see her. The one condition is that you wear this over your eyes at all times."

Kisuke glanced at the handkerchief tentatively and frowned, "Just to be sure," he said slowly, "She's attractive, right?"

"Very."

Kisuke sighed and took the handkerchief from the nursemaid, "Fine," he said, "I accept."

* * *

"Remember to disguise your voice," the nursemaid lectured, pulling Yoruichi's hair into a short ponytail, "Otherwise he may still recognize you."

Yoruichi, still looking a little uneasy, simply nodded and, as silently as ghosts, the two slipped from the Shihouin Clan house. The streets were unusually deserted but, even so, the nursemaid lead Yoruichi down the backroads, hiding her whenever they would spot another Shinigami. Mercifully, the moon had chosen that very night to retreat behind the clouds, and the two remained unseen.

Finally they reached an enormous wooden door with the Twelfth Division's insignia emblazoned on it; Urahara Kisuke, Twelfth Division Captain, the modest plaque stated. Yoruichi grabbed the nursemaid's arm for support as she reached toward the door. "Urahara-sama!" the nursemaid called, "Your girl is here!"

Kisuke's answer seemed to take an eternity but also came far too soon. "Please," he said, "Let her in. The door isn't locked."

The kindly old nurse smiled as Yoruichi glanced at her one last time. "Go."

The Shihouin woman took a deep breath and, without a second glance, entered her best friend's room. "Good evening, Kisuke-kun," she said, in the near-falsetto voice she had been practicing, "I hope I find you well?"

Kisuke nodded in the direction of her voice and scratched the side of his blindfold reflectively, "You know my name," he said with an encouraging grin, "But you still haven't told me yours. That isn't fair."

Thinking quickly, Yoruichi replied with confidence, "You can call me Ai."

"Then I'll call you Ai." There was a short, awkward silence as the two stared at each other; or rather, while Yoruichi stared at Kisuke and Kisuke stared at the inside of his blindfold. "Erm, you'll have to excuse me," he said finally, "I'm usually a little more romantic when I can see." Yoruichi couldn't help but giggle at this and Kisuke's grin grew as well. "I guess it's up to you to set the pace, so however you want to start this off is fine with me. I would cook you something if I could s-"

The flood of affection she had felt for her friend finally overcame her and, in a few steps, she had already crossed the room and kissed him passionately. After one blissful minute, Yoruichi pulled away from the still-stunned Kisuke, her face glowing with realized love.

That next morning, Yoruichi crept back into her clan's house and told her eagerly awaiting nursemaid exactly what had happened. That night, and the night after that, she visited him again. After all, twice and thrice were really no worse than once.

It was that night, the third night, when everything went dreadfully wrong. "You're terrific, Ai," Kisuke said as he ran a finger lovingly down Yoruichi's spine, "I feel like I've known you for years..." Yoruichi, of course, didn't comment but Kisuke continued, "The thing that bothers me though, is that I've never seen the face of the woman I love..."

Yoruichi did not reply.

"Please," Kisuke said, "Let me see you."

She frowned and pulled away from him, a hot red blush starting to form on her cheeks, "No."

"Please," he replied, "You don't need to be shy around me. I want to see you."

"No." she said a little more firmly.

"Don't worry. Nothing I could see would make me love you any less." With that, Kisuke's began to lower the blindfold.

Yoruichi's blood froze in her veins and her eyes widened. "No!"

A single gray eye poked out from behind the blindfold and Kisuke stiffened in shock. "Yoru-" was all he managed before the Shihouin woman flash-stepped swiftly from the room. Shihouin Yoruichi, the Captain of the Second Division, then continued to flash-step until she was safely inside her bedroom and proceeded to lock the door.

"-ichi..."

The next day, Kisuke came to the clan house and, very loudly, demanded permission to speak to his friend. He was very, very insistent and, eventually, was forcibly removed from the premises. The day after that, Kisuke was gone.

Exiled.

* * *

_"Who are you? You seem so familiar... yet..."_

_**"You don't recognize me, my dear? Has my absence already undone me so?"  
**__  
"Kisuke! Kisuke! You've come back!"_

_**"No, my little Ai, I haven't."  
**__  
"Then... why?"_

_**"Leave everything. Everyone. Leave your power, money, and position. Leave them all and come to me. Come to me in the mortal realm."  
**__  
__"I-I can't!"_

_**"You felt, the day I left, that you had lost me forever. Your heart, your dreams, your hopes, all grew smaller in an instant. You're drowning on land, choking on air, exiled in your very own home. Dearest Ai, tell me I lie."**_

"No.. that isn't a lie, but how could I find you? The mortal world is so large..."

_**"Yoruichi," **_said Kisuke, as his gaze became solemn,_** "Do you think, even for an instant, that you will fail to find me if you are meant to?"  
**_  
The specter seemed to have said its piece and slowly began to fade, but Yoruichi had a final question to ask it. _"Wait! Are you truly the soul of my love or are you a delusion of my own mind?"_

_**"Silly." **_the apparition replied and Yoruichi suddenly found herself staring into an incredibly familiar pair of yellow eyes,_** "Regardless of what I am, have I said anything you oughtn't have heard?"  
**_  
With that, Yoruichi suddenly jerked awake. "No," she whispered as she stood, "No, you haven't."

 

* * *

That morning, it was noticed that Yoruichi had disappeared.

As usual, there were rumors. Some said she was killed on a secret mission to overthrow the King of Hell. Some said that she secretly WAS the King of Hell. Some speculated that she had finally run off to be with whomever she wanted.

This last was not mere expression, or some poetic and hyperbolic trope, but the simple, beautiful truth. As the kindly old nursemaid knew, yet did not tell, Yoruichi had gone down to the mortal realm, had discarded everything dear to her, simply to follow her path wherever it would lead.

And it lead, of course, to Him.

* * *

A/N: Whoosh! Bloodmist returns with something that isn't a drabble finally!

Major propage goes out to Matsumama for Beta-ing this story and pointing out the massive pacing problem I had at the beginning. Show the lady some love, folks.

Yeah, this story is based highly on the play "Myrrah" by Ovid (though the dreamsequence was from another Ovid play - the name escapes me). Even though Myrrah didn't end happily (she... turned into tears?) I'd still like to think that I managed to capture some of the feeling from the original play. This takes place with Yoruichi as Myrrah, the unnamed nursemaid as the nursemaid, and Kisuke as Cinyras. If you didn't know what "Myrrah" was, than here's your paltry introduction to the world of Roman theatre.

Yes, Romans were nuts.

This is my fifth fic; however, this is no excuse for it to suck. If it does, please don't hesistate to tell me.  
Please review, as all feedback is appreciated.

B-E


End file.
